Pentecost 11B (Lect. 18)
August 8, 2021
Grace, Waseca, MN
John 6.35, 41-51; 1 Kings 19.4-8
One Sunday after worship, Terri approached me and said, “I just want you to know how much my son, George, appreciates your sermons.” Her son, a high school teen, had been serving on the AV team the past several Sundays and, I might add, had been held captive to my sermonizing. I don’t know what I said that day, probably mumbling words of gratitude. But what I do remember is that I was going through a rough patch in my ministry at that time, which Terri couldn’t possibly have known. And I distinctly remember thinking that I would go “in the strength of that food 40 days and nights into the wilderness.”
Now, I’m not presumptuous to compare myself to the prophet Elijah in our reading from 1 Kings 19 today. This snippet doesn’t do this wonderful story justice, of a prophet who, with the power of God, does some amazing work only to run in fear of his life from the wicked Queen Jezebel. Yes, that Queen Jezebel. (This is a perfect example of the old adage, “No good deed goes unpunished.” Exhausted and out of gas in the wilderness, he collapses under a broom tree wanting to die. (By the way, it was pointed out by Dr. Rolf Jacobson, professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary, that those in the Old Testament who askGod to die aren’t allowed. I might add that God always has more for them to do, perhaps giving pause to those who claim they’ve done enough in the church and that it’s someone else’s turn.) Well, an angel appears to Elijah twice to give him bread to eat, strengthening him for God’s mission ahead. I encourage you to read the whole story, beginning in 1 Kings 17 and ending in chapter 20.
Being in the wilderness is typically not a choice for us; we find it disorienting and uncertain. We have been in one of the most disorienting wildernesses of our lives for the past year and a half caused by the pandemic. In the midst of this awful time there are added personal and social wildernesses: job changes; the death of loved ones to whom we have not said adequate goodbyes; political upheavals; and even increased divorces and addictions. None of these are of our choosing. And if that weren’t enough, here at Grace, we’ve had the wilderness of transitioning from one senior pastor to another.
Without diminishing the seriousness of these wildernesses, our texts today suggest these can be places of possibility. On the one hand, we can acknowledge that we don’t know what’s next and that is disorienting. Yet, on the other hand, we know that these are places where God shows up and meets us in the midst of our need. This is hard, because we aren’t comfortable in the wilderness and we want to rush through to the other side. But what if we were to sit for a bit, rest for a while, take a breath and look for where God’s angels come?
If that sounds simplistic, Jesus’ declaration and promise bolster us. He says, “I am the Bread of Life.” In those words, Jesus focuses the story of Elijah’s strengthening for 40 days and nights as well as that of the Israelites who were provided manna every day for 40 years on the way to the Promised Land. In the giving of himself as the Bread of Life, Jesus establishes a relationship with us, one that promises he will sustain us so that we can go “in the strength of that food” into our wildernesses of daily life.
Yet, there’s more, because there’s always more with God. We not only get strengthened for our journeys in the wilderness, we also help strengthen others in their journeys. You see, Jesus as the Bread of Life feeds and then we, as the Body of Christ, feed others with ourselves. Although Terri didn’t know it, she was the Bread of Life to me that Sunday. Wherever you are today, know that Jesus as the Bread of Life meets you and feeds you, not only to sustain you on your journey but also to sustain others in our hungry, thirsty world. So, let’s go in the strength of that food! Amen.
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